Method for the production of multiple-link or cable chains.



0. LEIBBRAND.

METHOD FOR THE PRODUGTION 0F MULTIPLE LINK 0R CABLE CHAINS. APPLICATIONFILED SEPT.22,1910.

. 1,011,973. Patented Dec.19,1911.

gyyp I @uzzuww AITUR/VEYS COLUMBIA PLAN c1 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

CARL LEIIBBRAND, OF PFORZHEIM, GERMANY, ASSIGNOR TO THE CORPORATION OFKOLLMAR &. JOURDAN' A. G. UHRKETTENFAIBRIK, OF PFORZI-IEIM, GERMANY.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Dec. 19, 1911.

Application filed September 22, 1910. Serial N 0. 583,172.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it lmown that I, CARL LEIBBRAND, mechanical engineer, a subject ofthe German Emperor, and resident of Pforzheim, in the Grand Duchy ofBaden, Germany, with the post-office address Brotzingerlandstrasse 14,have invented new and useful Improvements in Methods for the Productionof Multiple- Link or Cable Chains, of which the following is aspecification.

Heretofore it has been possible to produce by machinery only theordinary single chains in which one link hangs upon the other in acontinuous series, the multiplelink or cable chains having had to bemade by putting the separate links together by hand.

The subject of the present invention is a method for enabling such cablechains to be produced by mechanical means. According to this method ofmanufacture the individual links are cut from a wire as usual and bentbetween shaping jaws, whereupon the joint of the link is worked by asmall hammer-like device to make it up very firmly.

The special feature of the method of this invention is that each linkwhich for the time being is the last to have been made in this way, isheld tightly in the position in which it was produced until thepreceding link of the chain has been lifted and laid upon the last link,by a turning movement, whereupon both links are turned back through anangle of about 70 degrees and thus brought into such a position that thewire which is to form the next link is enabled to pass through bothlinks whereupon the operation is repeated.

To carry the method into practice I use a machine which, in addition tothe known parts of an ordinary chain-making machine, comprises twoadditional pairs of tongs, one of which serves to hold the last linkmade, while the other surrounds the finished portion of chain and liftsthe link that is for the time being the last but one, turning this linkand then turning it backward together with the last link.

The accompanying drawing shows the means for carrying the method intopractice, Figure 1 showing the device in front'elevation, while Fig. 2is a corresponding side elevation. In both figures all the parts areshown in the position they occupy after a link has been finished. Fig. 3is a front elevation corresponding to Fig. 1, showing how the last linkbut one is lifted and turned. Fig. 4 is a front elevation in which thelast link and the preceding one are turned back again so that the wirefor the next link may pass through both. Fig. 5 shows a portion, on alarger scale, of a'chain produced by the method.

The wire a from which the links are made, is cut in the usual manner bya rising and falling knife I) and bent into the shape of a link by apair of jaws 0, (i being a jointing tool having a hammer-like action andserving to act on the joint of the link for the purpose of bringing thebutt ends in close contact with one another.

The novel feature of the device consists of the horizontal tongs e andthe vertical tongs f. The tongs e, as can beseen from Figs. 1 to 3,serve to hold each last-made link in the position in which it wasproduced until the link is gripped by the tongs f. The latter tongs fare adapted to rotate, are also displaceable vertically, and able topush the penultimate link upward and turn the same laterally.

WVhen, as shown in Fig. l, a chain link 9 has been finished, it is firstof all held in its position by the horizontally mounted tongs e, thetongs f grip the penultimate link It, pushes it upward a little inrising, and applies it against the last link 9 by rotating it about avertical axis, so that the two links assume the position shown in Fig.3. The tongs f now also grip the last link 9 so that the tongs 6 canrelease the same, whereupon both links 9 and h, in the same relativeposition, are turned back again by the tongs f into the positionaccording to Fig. 4:. The portion of wire forming the next link nowenters both the links 9 and h and the operation is repeated by theformation of a new link from this piece of wire. The swinging movementdescribed by the tongs 7 has an amplitude of about 70 degress. The tongsmay of course be replaced by any other device discharging the samefunctions, namely, holding the last link firmly for a sufficient time,lifting the penultimate link, turning the same and turning it back againalong with the last link. The finished chain 2' hangs downward insidethe tongs f.

The actuation of the individual parts,

2'. e. the cutter, jointer, jaws and both tongs, is effected as usual,from a common shaft by means of suitable cams or the like.

NOW What 1 claim and desire to secure by Letters Patent is thefollowing:

1. A method for producing multiple link or cable chains having a seriesof successively formed links, consisting in first gripping the lastformed link, then lifting the next preceding link relatively to saidlast formed link and moving said preceding link so that it will belocated in a plane registering approximately with the plane of the lastformed link, then passing a length of Wire for forming a neW linkthrough both said last formed link and said preceding link and thenforming said Wire into a complete link.

2. A method for producing multiple link or cable chains having a seriesof successively formed links, consisting in first gripping the lastformed link, then lifting the next preceding link relatively to saidlast formed link, rotating said preceding link until it engages saidlast formed link, then passing a length of Wire for forming a new linkthrough both said last formed link and said preceding link and thenforming said Wire into a complete link.

8. A method for producing multiple link or cable chains having a seriesof successively formed links, consisting in first grip ping the lastformed link, then lifting the next preceding link relatively to saidlastformed link, rotating said preceding link until it engages With saidlast formed link, then concurrently rotating said preceding link andsaid lost formed link in areverse direction, then passing a length ofwire for forming a new link through both said last formed link and saidpreceding link, and then forming said Wire into a complete link.

In testimony that I claim the foregoing as my invention, I have signedmy name in presence of two Witnesses, this tenth day of September 1910.

CARL LEIBBRAND.

VVitnesses AUGUST OOSTERMAN, MARIA HZiTTIG.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressingthe Commissioner of Patents, Washington, D. G.

